14-III-2022.
On 3rd Marinko called. We remembered him last night so I just sent a „what's up“ message to him, and he now went on and on about what's going on. Well, nothing much, except that he's trying to recoup his time investment in c#, while he'd find work in javascript or python much faster. Dot net seems to be such a waste of time.
On sixth it was no weather to go out, frost at night and no good at day. She took the girls up to our bedroom, where she moved the saplings from the smoking room, as this one is heated while the latter is only partially so. She lined them under the workbench (the grinder still mounted beneath its plate). They are here on the picture, just invisible, they love to hide under the quilt. Then they are very happy when we pretend to be unable to find them for at least five minutes and finally get the idea to uncover the bed.
Then they visited Nina's friend next street, played with her daughter, and then were even escorted back. Friend's mother packed some ten krofna (hollow greasy pastry, mix is such that it grows a ball of air inside when fried; from german Krapfe), which they relished. Not that their own baba didn't make them, but that was last year... let's see if they changed their minds.
So next day she made them too, by some different recipe. Crunchier and growing even more, but third day they are somehow grainy and it's not that gusto anymore. Whatever, they got eaten, with the first third gone in an hour.
In the evening, just when we were getting ready to go to Dragana for the 70th frendz parti, Boba called, and it seems they planned to come right away, but I pre-empted that with saying that we're packing at the moment. Well, they'll come when next they find a time, we are here.
We carried the cherry. We added the 4l of new last year, and it seems we tasted it some early in the winter and didn't like it. Now it tasted just right, even Dragana had three, Borko and I at least four.
On 8th this friend came with daughter, and I poured some quince, she liked it. The kids enjoyed each other's company, and we were happy that they were occupied with something while the weather is like this. It's freezing at nights again. The apricots bulb a bit, shyly, it's still only pink but not white... there's hope.
One day we ordered pizza from „Venecija“. Last time. First, the box is branded as Kapa Em, of which I heard ads at times, years ago, dunno whether it's a local chain or not. Various shops or cabs let some local radio on, so I knew the name but nothing else. And the pizza was a bit cheaper, 1700 instead of 1800 for two large ones, but they were actually smaller by at least 5cm in diameter, even boxes were smaller, and they were half raw, half of the topping was missing (compared to ten days ago), and the dough is different. Well, guys, it seems you tried your best to sell the shop, good job, and as far as we're concerned you just did it.
On eleventh it was still rather cold, but at least there was some sunshine and it was okay to stand outside, in the sun and not in the wind, or else your fingers fall off. The temperatures stay in single digits for days now. We made a tour - Lidl, Roda, the kids clothes shop in our old street (she was looking for t-shirts for Raja but nope, no spring gear wares in stock yet), and finally in the chinese store in old nets factory. Found some silly gadgets there - a flat and corrugated light cleaver, will come handy for fruit and vegetables, when time comes to fill the jars and bottles. She is watching some videos from Azerbaijan these days, how they make winter preserves out of anything, typically two kinds of fruit, garlic and hot peppers, all in one jar. Will be interesting when we come to that.
For lunch we had the classic nasuvo („on dry“ - flat pastry stripes, boiled and strained, with cooked potatoes and young cheese, which were traditionally either just potatoes or just cheese, but she keeps making them together, for years, I actually don't remember when we had just one of them... even when she announces just cheese, it somehow happens to have potatoes too). Of course, čorbuljak (v. house dictionary) is the more important part of it. The picture is there, with its definition, and also in the „have a nice sunday lunch“ article on suština.
Over weekend she worked more on saplings - and we need more lights, but she remembered that after 15:00 on saturday, too late, all such shops were closed. And in Lidl they kept a bunch of LED lights for months, and now they removed them all in favor of gym gear, now there was only one and that was something decorative. So on monday I went to Tišma and bought two 60cm arrows and two regular 15W led bulbs (about 100 or 120 hot bulb equivalent), so now we have the little plants in two places. There'll be all kinds, several kinds of peppers, hot peppers and tomatoes in five colors. And it just keeps sprouting. She also decided to ignore the instructions, regarding the timing, because they all aim for industrial production and optimal crops, which is not what we want. We want to have something at all times, the profitability is irrelevant.
Around 10th Marinko postponed the encounter, something about wife, her multiple sclerosis is acting up again. Zina's dad called, asking whether we'd sell the old house, the rumor arose again. Okay, he says, I thought you wouldn't, but if you change your mind, remember I asked first, I'd want it for our son, both for vicinity and for sentimental value. Okay, if we do, now is not quite the time to think about that.
On monday, 14th, we enjoyed it not being so cold anymore, at least in daylight and not in the wind, so we took the girls downtown, the regular round. Taking pictures, chasing pigeons, ate popcorn, spilled a quarter of it. She went to a goldsmith's and bought a necklace and a bracelet, about 70000 dinars altogether, so the money doesn't just lie around, who knows what's next. While they were in there, I went into Telekom's shop next door, to see how do we stand with optics in our area. We don't, the girl said. Maybe last quarter of the year. Now even Ezbeebee looks attractive, even though there you pay for TV too, willy nilly, and they're Petraeus's.
Although it's a workday and near the end of work hours, the city is devoid of any crowd. The parking on Žitni square is nearly empty, there's 5 pedestrians max on each shot, and that's when I frame at least 20 meters ahead. One can easily ride a bike without any danger of collision.
The house on the corner was a paintshop once upon a time, painted standard yellow with brown portura (bottom 50cm). Then Modus was in it, with quite an assortment of clothing and cloth by the meter, and then they moved to another corner of the square and soon completely vanished. Since the gambling aka betting joint moved in, they added a glass cage on the lawn behind the corner, with some small terrace with four tables - now the cage is a mess, insulation strewn at random. The new boss painted the house black. Which actually doesn't look that bad, it's just two things that amaze me - why are none of such experiments in color, and how come there's never any graffito on this wall?
In the evening at Borko's, 71st frendz parti, all the regular except he heard what I was thinking these days, and cooked beans. Now whether it was a real gravče na tavče or just prebranac, doesn't matter. Dragana objected, as cook to cook, that he could have done the beans an hour longer, and the meat half an hour less, but I didn't mind, actually I didn't even understand how much I ate until I had to take half an hour off conversation, until my bloodstream returns from the immediate needs of digestion and starts properly supplying the brain again.
We brought the same cherry as last monday, and it flowed just as well. The conversation around the table was... mnyah, Dragana went large again with her celebrity preferences, the ones she liked (Lola Astanova, Andrea Bočeli, Toše Proeski, Aba...) and those she can't digest (Konstrakta and a couple of others). Aba was the sticking point, as Borko plainly said their songs are trash, with which I mostly agreed, though among all the earworms they inflicted on me, I could stand perhaps one third. She was mostly bored, which they finally noticed, so the dispute jumped, in three easy leaps, to bankstery, and then she got in a hot and loud dispute with him, while along the other diagonal Dragana and I talked of something else (no idea what).
And still we heard the same stories third or fourth time again (specially about her trips to Macedonia). She also had a nosebleed during the walk there, spent the evening with a clot in her right nostril, and we kept asking ourselves whether that was caused, like the earbleed couple of months ago, by the vaccine. Luckily, the subject was sidestepped, I only mentioned how nobody in Lidl wore a mask (the regulation was revoked as of two days ago), and „finally those who poured money into dentistry get to show something for it“, as someone at the entrance there said. And yes, I spotted Pali there, but he and wife went in before I recognized who said ćao to me.
In front of Lesnina they cut the thick trees, they want to finally flatten that sidewalk, it was only patched whenever they dug anything, for the last fifty years. The roots raised the concrete in several places. Dragana's forecast is that the sidewalk will be just as bad in three years, because the shops are stocked by trucks maneuvering backwards until they are a step from the door - nobody bothers to use their rear entrances, where the maneuvering would be screwy, the tenants park there, it's tight. So she'll go nuts with the heat this summer, the replacement trees may grow as fast as they promise, it won't have a proper crown for three years at least, and who knows whether we'll live long enough to see it throw some shade on her windows.
Mentions: Dobrivoj Gunaroši (Boba), Dragana Vitas (Dragana), frendz parti, house dictionary, Lesnina, Mališa Borkovski (Borko), Marinko Protić, Nevena Sredljević (Nina), Pali Bodor, Ryu (Raja), suština, Zina, in serbian